1996 USISL Premier League season

The 1996 USISL Premier League season was its second. The season began in April 1996 and ended in August 1996.

USISL Premier League
Season1996
← 1995
1997 →

Central Coast Roadrunners won the championship, defeating the San Francisco Bay Seals 3–2. Spokane Shadow won the regular season title, winning 14 games to 2 losses.

Changes from 1995 season

Name changes

New teams

12 teams were added for the season.

Team Area Location Previous affiliation
Bellingham Orcas Northwest Washington area Bellingham, WA expansion
Central Coast Roadrunners Central West Coast area San Luis Obispo, CA expansion
Florida Strikers Greater Miami area Fort Lauderdale, FL from USISL Pro
Lexington Bluegrass Bandits Lexington area Lexington, KY from USISL Pro
Miami Tango Greater Miami area Miami, FL expansion
Mid-Michigan Bucks Flint/Tri-Cities area Saginaw, MI expansion
Omaha Flames Omaha-Council Bluffs area Omaha, NE expansion
San Diego Top Guns San Diego area San Diego, CA from USISL Pro
Southern California Gunners Inland Empire area San Bernardino, CA expansion
Spokane Shadow Spokane area Spokane, WA expansion
West Florida Fury Emerald Coast area Pensacola, FL expansion
Willamette Valley Firebirds Corvallis area Corvallis, OR former Portland Firebirds of the USISL Pro League

Teams leaving

Five teams folded after the 1995 season:

Standings

Northern Division
Pos Team Pld W PKW L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Lexington Bluegrass Bandits 14 9 1 4 32 18 +14 28[lower-alpha 1] Division champion
2 Michigan Madness 14 8 1 5 24 28 −4 25[lower-alpha 1] Team qualified for playoff berth
3 Detroit Dynamite 14 7 1 6 34 19 +15 22[lower-alpha 1]
4 Mid-Michigan Bucks 14 7 1 6 24 18 +6 22[lower-alpha 1] Team qualified for playoff berth
5 Kalamazoo Kingdom 14 5 0 9 18 22 −4 15
6 Grand Rapids Explosion[lower-alpha 2] 7 0 0 7 6 21 −15 0
Source:
Notes:
  1. Detroit, Kalamazoo, Lexington, and Michigan were all penalized 3 points.
  2. Grand Rapids did not have a home stadium this year, and played only road games.

Southern Division
Pos Team Pld W PKW L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Austin Lone Stars 14 10 0 4 41 17 +24 30 Division champion
2 Omaha Flames 14 8 0 6 39 22 +17 24 Team qualified for playoff berth
3 Sioux City Breeze 13 7 2 4 26 23 +3 23[lower-alpha 1][lower-alpha 2]
4 Des Moines Menace 14 7 0 7 22 21 +1 21
5 Oklahoma City Heat 14 7 0 7 22 26 −4 21
6 Wichita Blue 13 5 0 8 18 33 −15 15[lower-alpha 1]
Source:
Notes:
  1. The game between Sioux City and Wichita was postponed and could not be rescheduled before end of the season. The game was cancelled because it had no effect on the playoffs.
  2. Sioux City was penalized 6 points.

Northern Division
Pos Team Pld W PKW L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Roanoke River Dawgs 14 10 0 4 48 28 +20 30 Division champion
2 Jackson Chargers 14 7 1 6 34 24 +10 22[lower-alpha 1] Team qualified for playoff berth
3 Nashville Metros 14 5 2 7 34 26 +8 17[lower-alpha 2]
4 Birmingham Grasshoppers 14 4 0 10 20 33 −13 12
Source:
Notes:
  1. Jackson was penalized 3 points.
  2. Nashville was penalized 6 points.

Southern Division
Pos Team Pld W PKW L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Cocoa Expos 14 9 1 4 45 22 +23 28[lower-alpha 1] Bye into semifinals as defending champion.
2 Orlando Lions 14 8 1 5 25 28 −3 25[lower-alpha 1]
3 Florida Strikers 14 6 1 7 31 33 −2 19[lower-alpha 1] Team qualified for playoff berth
4 West Florida Fury 14 5 0 9 29 36 −7 15
5 Miami Tango 14 4 0 10 29 37 −8 12
6 South Florida Future 14 0 0 14 17 63 −46 0
Source:
Notes:
  1. Cocoa, Florida, and Orlando were all penalized 3 points.

Northern Division
Pos Team Pld W PKW L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Spokane Shadow 14 11 1 2 34 17 +17 34[lower-alpha 1] Division champion
2 San Francisco Bay Seals 14 10 0 4 35 15 +20 30 Team qualified for playoff berth
3 Colorado Springs Stampede 14 8 1 5 20 12 +8 25[lower-alpha 1]
4 Puget Sound Hammers 14 8 0 6 31 23 +8 24 Team qualified for playoff berth
5 Willamette Valley Firebirds 14 5 0 9 21 31 −10 15
6 Bellingham Orcas 14 3 0 11 17 50 −33 9
Source:
Notes:
  1. Colorado Springs and Spokane were both penalized 3 points.

Southern Division
Pos Team Pld W PKW L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Central Coast Roadrunners 14 11 1 2 38 16 +22 34[lower-alpha 1] Division champion
2 San Diego Top Guns 14 8 1 5 28 22 +6 25[lower-alpha 1] Team qualified for playoff berth
3 Arizona Phoenix 14 7 0 7 32 31 +1 21
4 Tucson Amigos 14 7 0 7 24 29 −5 21
5 Fontana Falcons 14 5 0 9 31 32 −1 15
6 Southern California Gunners 14 3 0 11 19 28 −9 9
Source:
Notes:
  1. Central Coast and San Diego were both penalized 3 points

Playoffs

Format

Central Coast received a bye to the PDL Semifinals as the defending champion.
The top four teams from every division except the Southwest earn playoff spots. With Central Coast already receiving a bye, the top two teams from the Southwest Division will play each other, however if Central Coast is in the top two, then the third place team receives a playoff spot. The Division winners would then face each other in the Conference finals.

Divisional brackets
Division Semifinals Division Finals Central Finals
         
NC1 Mid-Michigan Bucks 1
NC4 Grand Rapids Explosion 0
NC1 Mid-Michigan Bucks (AET/PSO) 0 (1)
North Central Division
NC3 Kalamazoo Kingdom 0 (0)
NC2 Detroit Dynamite 0
NC3 Kalamazoo Kingdom (AET) 1
NC1 Mid-Michigan Bucks 3
C4 Des Moines Menace 0
C1 Lincoln Brigade 0
C4 Des Moines Menace 4
C4 Des Moines Menace 6
Central Division
C2 Omaha Flames 0
C2 Omaha Flames 5
C3 Sioux City Breeze 3
Division Semifinals Division Finals Eastern Finals
         
SE1 Cocoa Expos 5
SE4 Miami Tango 2
SE1 Cocoa Expos 3
Southeast Division
SE3 West Florida Fury 1
SE2 South Florida Future 0
SE3 West Florida Fury 4
SE1 Cocoa Expos 2
MS2 Jackson Chargers 1
MS1 Cincinnati Riverhawks 7
MS4 Alabama Saints 4
MS1 Cincinnati Riverhawks 0
Mid-South Division
MS2 Jackson Chargers 3
MS2 Jackson Chargers (AET) 1
MS3 Lexington Bluegrass Bandits 0
Division Semifinals Division Finals Western Finals
         
NW1 Spokane Shadow (AET/PSO) 4 (1)
NW4 Bellingham Orcas 4 (0)
NW1 Spokane Shadow 2
Northwest Division
NW2 Yakima Reds 0
NW2 Yakima Reds 1
NW3 Cascade Surge 0
NW1 Spokane Shadow 0
SW1 San Gabriel Valley Highlanders 1
SW1 San Gabriel Valley Highlanders bye
 
SW1 San Gabriel Valley Highlanders 2
Southwest Division
SW2 Tucson Amigos 1
SW2 Tucson Amigos bye
 

PDL Finals brackets
  PDL Semifinals            
  NC1 Mid-Michigan Bucks 0  
  H Central Coast Roadrunners 2   PDL Finals
      H Central Coast Roadrunners 2
  PDL Semifinals   SE1 Cocoa Expos 1
  SW1 San Gabriel Valley Highlanders 0 (0)
  SE1 Cocoa Expos (AET/PSO) 0 (1)   PDL Third Place
    NC1 Mid-Michigan Bucks 2
    SW1 San Gabriel Valley Highlanders 3

Premier Six Tournament

Six teams entered the Premier Six Tournament in Cocoa, Florida the weekend of August 16–18. Each of the five division playoff champions qualified for the tournament, along with the host Cocoa Expos. The teams were seeded in this order, based on their regular season points:

  • 1. Central Coast Roadrunners
  • 2. San Francisco Bay Seals
  • 3. Cocoa Expos
  • 4. Omaha Flames
  • 5. Jackson Chargers
  • 6. Mid-Michigan Bucks.

The Central Coast Roadrunners played the bottom two seeds (Jackson and Mid-Michigan). The San Francisco Seals played the #4 and #6 seeds (Omaha and Mid-Michigan). The Cocoa Expos played and #4 and #5 seeds (Omaha and Jackson).

Qualification to the finals

In order to determine the two teams to qualify for the finals, the league used the following point system during the Premier Six Tournament:

  • Win = 3 points
  • Shootout win = 2 points
  • Shootout loss = 1 point
  • Bonus points: Each team scoring three or more goals in regulation or overtime received one extra point.
Place Team W SW SL L BP PTS
1 Central Coast Roadrunners 2 0 0 0 1 7
2 San Francisco Bay Seals 1 0 1 0 1 5
3 Cocoa Expos 1 0 0 1 1 4
4 Omaha Flames 0 1 0 1 0 2
5 Jackson Chargers 1 0 0 1 0 2
6 Mid-Michigan Bucks 0 0 0 2 0 0

Friday
San Francisco Bay Seals (CA)2-2 OTOmaha Flames (NE)
Penalties
 1-2
Central Coast Roadrunners (CA)3-0Mid-Michigan Bucks (MI)
Bryan Taylor
Cocoa Expos (FL)0-1Jackson Chargers (MS)
 50' Sheldon Bennett

Saturday
Central Coast Roadrunners (CA)2-1 OTJackson Chargers (MS)
  42' Dwyane Demmin
San Francisco Bay Seals (CA)4-0Mid-Michigan Bucks (MI)
Cocoa Expos (FL)4-1Omaha Flames (NE)

Final
Central Coast Roadrunners (CA)1-0San Francisco Bay Seals (CA)
Bryan Taylor  48'
Cocoa Expo Sports Center, Cocoa, Florida

Honors

[1]

References
  1. USISL: 1996 Postseason Awards
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